The speed of a real estate transaction has never been quicker with information zipping around via apps, websites and messaging systems.

Instead of weeks or days, it can take just hours to seal a deal, even across time zones and amongst other hurdles.

Things have definitely gone mobile. There is very little cobbling together of a list of properties like there used to be, says Steve Saretsky, a Vancouver real estate agent. “Now, you are not searching for stuff. (Buyers) call me and say, ‘I want to look at this, this and this.'”

All this is possible with so much more information in the mix. Buyers, sellers and brokers, as well as real estate-related service providers like staging and renovation companies, are now more likely to get or flog the hottest nugget of the moment by hopping onto WhatsApp or WeChat. These messaging apps allow for fast pinging to one person or a group as large as 500.

(WeChat allows for texting in Chinese characters and also for recording audio messages, whereas WhatsApp is similar, but more commonly used by English-speakers.)

WeChat, in particular, has gained a name in real estate circles, not just in Vancouver, but also other places, as a way to promote or glean valuable information about an area, specific properties, or an exclusive listing that wouldn’t come up elsewhere. In a tight marketplace, that kind of chatter, especially crossing language barriers, can be worth gold.

“There is a lot of WeChat,” said Saretsky. “I’m in a couple of groups. I can’t read it, but I had someone buy some condos. I’m not sure why he likes me since we can’t talk to each other, but we text over WeChat. (There’s a translation button.) We were sitting in our cars, side by side, and I figured out, ‘Oh, you want to see this condo. Okay, let’s go.'”

Live video tools such as FaceTime make it easy for an agent to show a property to a client who is across town, or in another city completely. After that, the other game changer has been DocuSign, which allows for collecting and submitting signatures with the swipe of a fingertip across a smartphone.

“Technology has definitely made it easier for offshore investors (to buy real estate). We can leverage (it) to do deals that might have been impossible, say, three years ago. It’s had a massive shift,” said Saretsky.

“It’s hard to imagine (that) back in the day, we had to get original signatures and we had couriers, biking around documents,” said Brian Rushton, Century 21 Canada’s executive vice president.

Rushton notes that larger real estate firms have in the works transaction management software that will track an accepted offer. Brokers, lawyers, appraisers and bankers can feed in information that would allow a consumer to know in real time when each step of a deal is met as it goes from being accepted to finalized. “It keeps the consumer in the know. They can see when a bank has approved financing, when subjects are removed. … This could potentially change the way we do business.”

With all this at hand, there are now consumers who have varying levels of confidence in their own ability to take over certain parts of buying real estate and who want to pay commissions accordingly, said Mayur Arora of oneflatfee.ca. He offers three different packages of services from basic, which includes a bare-bones MLS listing, to a fuller one, including all the paperwork and negotiations.

More creative options are on offer, but there are still some significant speed bumps and concerns. For one thing, outsiders and agents alike say some real estate boards are still protective of their access to key information that would give consumers a complete picture.

“Buying or selling real estate is the most important financial decision many people make, and it is still often done in the dark,” said Andrey Pavlov, who specializes in real estate finance at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business. In B.C., “there is no comprehensive public website where people can find past transactions for a property or within a neighbourhood. There is also no real-time information on which properties have accepted offers and which are still available for sale.”

As for keeping up with activities on these apps from a legal standpoint, it is completely acceptable to share information, but obviously, it can be problematic if unlicensed brokers make or split commissions or referral fees based on it.

“Regulators may not be as up to speed as they should be,” said Rushton. “It is difficult to keep up with a lot of the chatter on the street and scuttlebutt with technology” as it is exchanged in ever more fast and fleeting channels.

While embracing change seems the only thing to do, said Saretsky, there are some sobering thoughts in examples elsewhere. In the U.S., Seattle-based Redfin is disrupting the market almost like Uber has in the ride-hailing space. It allows consumers to “search for listings, and then you can pick (a property) you want to see in the next 30 minutes and the first agent (to answer the call, usually the one who might be the closest in location) comes around to unlock the house. … It’s not for everyone, but it’s shaking up the industry,” said Saretsky.

Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.

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